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Darkest Hour looked like being the biggest awards title of January and after opening with £4.1m it has proven to be the case. A good comparison is the only film Gary Oldman has so far been Oscar nominated for, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which opened with £2.8m in 2011 and finished its run with £14.2m. Darkest Hour will be looking to finish comfortably north of that.
Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle fell to second but still added £2.4m, which takes its total to £29.9m. It has now surpassed Dwayne Johnson’s second biggest film, Fast & Furious 8, which finished on £29.6m and is now only behind Fast & Furious 7, which finished on £38.6m.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri opened in second with £2.2m. Last year’s awards contender, which makes a good comparison is Manchester By The Sea, which opened on the same weekend with £729k and finished with £3.6m. Three Billboards should be looking to at least double that final figure.
Word of mouth on The Greatest Showman must be going through the roof as the lavish musical had another terrific hold, falling just 11% to £2.1m. That’s easily the strongest hold in the top 10 and takes its total to £13.5m. Another couple of holds like that could see it get to £20m.
On a strong weekend, Insidious: The Last Key opened in fifth with £1.8m. After Chapter 3, the Insidious series looked like it was on a downward spiral but this fourth instalment just delivered the second best opening of the series, comfortably beating the last outing’s £1.4m.
Outside of the top five, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is up to £79.9m in sixth and Paddington 2 is up to £41.1m in 10th
Overall, the box office was down 2% from last weekend and up 12% from the same weekend last year, when the top films were La La Land, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Moana.
Next Weekend
The Post is this year’s big awards contender from Steven Spielberg. It’s the true life drama about a cover-up that spanned four U.S. Presidents and pushed the country's first female newspaper publisher and a hard-driving editor to join an unprecedented battle between the press and the government. The heavyweight cast includes Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.
The Commuter is the latest thriller from Liam Neeson and director, Jaume Collet-Serra (Unknown, Non-Stop, Run All Night). Neeson stars as a businessman who is caught up in a criminal conspiracy during his daily commute home.
Coco is the latest magical animation from Pixar. Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family's ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer. It has already grossed almost $200m in the US.
The Buzz
Proud Mary is an action vehicle for Hidden Figures star Taraji P. Henson. Mary (Henson) is a hit woman working for an organised crime family in Boston, whose life is completely turned around when she meets a young boy whose path she crosses when a professional hit goes bad. It opened in the US this past weekend and grossed $9.9m. It opens in the UK on 23 March.
Across The Pond
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle held on to the top spot with $35m, which takes its total to $291.5m. After expanding to over 2,800 cinemas, Steven Spielberg’s The Post came in second with $23.4m, which takes its total to $27.9m. Liam Neeson thriller The Commuter arrived in third, kicking off its run with $16.4m. The Greatest Showman had another terrific hold, falling just 9% to $15.5m and it’s closing in on $100m, currently sitting on $98.3m. Insidious: The Last Key completed the top five, falling 51% to $14.6m and a new total of $51m.